Brynwood Partners has agreed to sell Lightlife Foods to publicly traded Maple Leaf Foods for $140 million. The transaction is expected to close by the end of March 2017.
In September 2013, Brynwood formed Lightlife Foods to acquire Lightlife, one of ConAgra Foods’ brands with products that included vegetarian-based burgers, hotdogs, sausage, jerky and other meatless frozen and refrigerated items. The acquisition included the Lightlife manufacturing operation in Turners Falls, MA. Lightlife Foods has approximately 100 employees and is headquartered near Boston in Braintree (www.lightlife.com).
“We are pleased to announce the sale of Lightlife to publicly-traded Maple Leaf Foods, a leading consumer packaged protein company,” said Hendrik Hartong III, Chairman and CEO of Brynwood Partners. “The sale of Lightlife to a high-caliber strategic buyer like Maple Leaf Foods is an excellent outcome for Brynwood. We acquired Lightlife from ConAgra Foods and the sale to Maple Leaf Foods reaffirms our position as the leading lower middle market buyout firm for corporate carve outs.”
Brynwood Partners is an operationally-focused private equity firm that makes control investments in consumer focused lower middle-market companies. The firm has $725 million of capital under management. The firm was founded in 1984 and is based in Greenwich, CT (www.brynwoodpartners.com).
Piper Jaffray & Co. (www.piperjaffray.com) was the investment advisor to Lightlife and Maple Leaf Foods was advised by Centerview Partners (www.centerviewpartners.com).
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | February 22, 2017
